What Am I Teaching: Computers or Writing

By reminding teachers repeatedly throughout the training program that they are teaching writing in the computer classroom, trainers achiever two goals:

They help teachers understand that the classroom technology should be integrated into writing instruction to help students as writers.

They reduce teachers' concerns about being computer experts.

Because the "bells and whistles" of computer technology can draw attention away from the goals of the writing course, trainers need to help teachers see how to integrate any instruction about computer technology into the larger goals of teaching writing.

As more and more students know basic computer skills before they begin college writing courses, they need less direct guidance about using most computer tools anyway. But we do talk with teachers about ways to introduce new technologies and to integrate more familiar computer applications into their writing instruction. Our teachers tell us that seeing the computers as tools to support the writing goals of a specific class or activity helps them keep the focus on writing, not on computers. In the teacher commentary links throughout this module, teachers also note other specific tactics they use to integrate computer technologies into writing instruction.